Hub 1: Blight

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Blight
Constable's Gate
Nave
Transit
Hexen: Beyond Heretic
Map name: MAP42

Cheat code: visit02

Blight is the central map of the first hub in Deathkings of the Dark Citadel. It uses the music track "Jach" by Kevin Schilder. The map has four sections, each containing a key guarded by a challenge, and a locked door corresponding to the key which leads to one of the four offshoot maps. The sections may be tackled in any order the player chooses.

Walkthrough[edit]

Map of Blight
Letters in italics refer to marked spots on the map. Sector, thing, and linedef numbers in boldface are secrets.

Essentials[edit]

You begin in a tower with four exits, with a mosaic of a solar system in front of you. To open the portal to the next hub, Constable's Gate, you must place gems in four of the five holes in the mosaic. One gem is located in each of the four levels accessible from the east and west ends of the hub.

You can collect the gems in any order, though it may be advantageous to travel to the level that contains your third weapon first. The Fighter's weapon can be found in Brackenwood, the Mage's in the Catacomb and the Cleric's in Sump. Drop down from the raised area into the segment of your choice. If you decide to change segments, you can open the four separating doors in a clockwise fashion, by using the left of the two doors.

Accessing the Badlands[edit]

From the starting tower, drop into the south-west segment where a slaughtaur (and centaurs on medium and hard skill levels) are guarding a horn key door. Go through the opening in the south-east corner to find a pit containing brown chaos serpents and ettins, which you should kill from the surrounding walkway, then drop into the pit and enter the water pool at the south end to find the horn key.

Taking the key closes a barrier to block the room entrance, and opens several doors around the pit revealing more brown serpents. Fight them off, then go inside their compartment to find fléchettes and press the four moon switches in the corners to open the barrier so you can escape. Go back to the horn door, open it then head down the spiral stairs and push past some centaurs to find the portal to the Badlands.

Accessing the Catacomb[edit]

Enter the north-east segment from the starting tower, which has a cave key door, then go through the opening at the north end to find two sets of steps, one going down and one going up; the stairs going up are currently blocked. Take the down staircase to enter a pit with two or three green chaos serpents, which must be killed to remove the barrier blocking the stairs, then go up those stairs and open the wall at the top to find an afrit guarding a lift. Ride the lift down and follow the tunnel east and south past more afrits until you reach another staircase, climb it then look left to see the cave key on top of a switch.

Take the key and push the switch, which will open walls connecting the passage with the serpent room, then go back outside and open the cave key door. Head down the spiral stairs and push past some centaurs to find the portal to the Catacomb.

Accessing Brackenwood[edit]

Enter the south-east segment from the starting tower, which has an emerald key door, then go through the opening at the south end to find a staircase going down. Descend the stairs, watching out for ettins and afrits (or brown serpents on hard skill levels), the follow the tunnel at the bottom round to a room where ettins and brown serpents are guarding the key. As you enter the room, the gray bars by the entrance will move to close it off; you must then press all three moon switches in the alcoves on the west side to move the bars again, allowing you to escape.

Go back outside and open the emerald key door. Head down the spiral stairs and push past some centaurs to find the portal to Brackenwood.

Accessing Sump[edit]

Enter the north-west segment from the starting tower, which has a swamp key door, then go through the opening at the north end to find a staircase going down. Enter the sludge pit at the bottom of the stairs and press the Korax mural at the bottom, which will block the entrance to the room and lower the surrounding walls to reveal a dark room with multiple stalkers and stalker bosses. Fight through to the north end of the room to find the swamp key, then pull the minotaur switch directly behind it to open the room entrance so you can leave.

Go back up the stairs, then back outside where you can open the swamp key door. Head down the spiral stairs and push past some centaurs to find the portal to Sump.

Exit[edit]

Once you collect and place all four required gems the portal to Constable's Gate will raise out the ground behind you and a Wings of Wrath artifact will spawn in front of it.

Accessing Pyre[edit]

You only need four gems to complete the hub, however there is room on the mosaic for another gem. This hole is for a hidden gem that will allow you to reach the hub's hidden level, Pyre.

Once you have reached both the Badlands and Sump portals, jump on the statue in front of either portal then climb into the window ledge behind it. Press the wall between the portal rooms to lower it, revealing the ruby planet. Placing the ruby in the mosaic will instantly teleport you back to Ruined Village, where the pillars at the south end of the map have lowered revealing a courtyard containing the portal to Pyre. If you wish to return to Ruined Village after placing the ruby, then press use on that segment on the mosaic to be teleported again.

Other points of interest[edit]

Open the north, west and south walls in the starting area to find Boots of Speed, a platinum helm and a torch.

From the start, drop into the north-eastern segment and go through the opening on the north side. As soon as you do, open the south-east wall to find an Icon of the Defender.

Bugs[edit]

The doors connecting the segments have two triggers. First, by a player manually opening them. Second, when the game script determines that two adjacent sections have had their key-retrieval puzzle solved. If you exit and re-enter the map before setting off the other trigger, the given pair of doors will overturn into the wall. This results in these doors poking into a few secret areas, as well as causing an obvious visual anomaly.

Areas / screenshots[edit]

Speedrunning[edit]

Routes and tricks[edit]

Current records[edit]

The records for the map at the Doom Speed Demo Archive are:

Run Time Player Date File Notes
Sk4 speed
Sk4 max
Sk5 speed
Sk5 max
Tyson
Pacifist

The (absence of) data was last verified in its entirety on December 3, 2021.

Deathmatch[edit]

Player spawns[edit]

This level contains eight spawn points:

  1. facing south. (thing 25)
  2. facing west. (thing 26)
  3. facing west. (thing 27)
  4. facing north. (thing 28)
  5. facing north. (thing 208)
  6. facing south. (thing 209)
  7. facing north. (thing 210)
  8. facing south. (thing 211)

Statistics[edit]

Map data[edit]

Things 600
Vertices 1433*
Linedefs 1562
Sidedefs 2145
Sectors 275
* The vertex count without the effect of node building is 1274.

Things[edit]

This level contains the following numbers of things per skill level: